You look over Varian’s shoulder and see a rainbow infinity symbol cross-stitched into the fabric they are holding, and right next to it is a rainbow heart! The cross-stitch isn’t too neat, but you can tell that Varian put a lot of love into this cross-stitching.

“And done!” says Varian as they snip off the thread. They hold it up to you, and give you a shy smile. “Gen suggested that I take a break from making costumes because, even though I love it, it can get pretty tiring! So Xiaolong suggested that I do some cross-stitching — I’m not very good yet, but it is very relaxing, and I quite enjoy it.

“The rainbow infinity is for Autistic Pride Month, and the rainbow heart is for diversity. I want to support our autistic friends, so I also want to recommend some books by autistic authors to you as well.”

That sounds great! It looks like Gen had a lot of fun cross-stitching this, and you have a feeling they are going to have fun recommending some books to you as well.

Hello friends! I hope you all are reading some wonderful books. ✨

In case you’re new to the Pond’s recommendation posts, the recommendation posts are brought to you by Varian, the Pond’s very own Toadshifter who is knowledgeable in all kinds of magic! One of Varian’s ambitions is to get better at sewing, hence why whenever Varian has shown you their latest costume, they will always recommend a book that inspired that costume.

Though it is part way through Autistic Pride Month, it is never too late to read a book about autistic characters! I love that we are starting to see more books with autistic representation – or books about autistic characters! – though we still have a long way to go. Nonetheless, we still can support the works and voices of autistic writers, and what better way than to add a book by an autistic author to your to-read lists this month?

Today, Varian and I will be helping you out by providing some recommendations of books about autistic characters by autistic authors!

ON THE EDGE OF GONE

If you’re in the mood for something that’s post-apocalyptic and is a thoughtful meditation about navigating the challenges following the end of the world from the perspective of an autistic character, allow me introduce to you On The Edge of Gone.

Follows Denise, a biracial and autistic teen who, following the apocalypse, sets out to look for her sister.

A significant portion of the book explores how Denise navigates and overcomes various challenges, particularly interpersonal challenges when she meets other survivors.

This is a slow-paced and thoughtful book that examines the ableism of ‘survival’ rhetoric and narratives, as well as the worth of one’s life over another in the context of survival.

AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS

I’m partway through reading this, but I can already tell that this book is going to be one heck of a memorable read. This is the steady-paced and discursive science fiction that I’ve been craving, and this book is not disappointing at all.

Follows Aster, an autistic and intersex healer aboard the lower echelons of the HSS Matilda, who discovers a link between the dead sovereign and her mother’s suicide years ago.

Contains so much powerful discourse about slavery, authoritarianism, racism, and structural violence.

The plot and worldbuilding is unlike anything I have read before. An Unkindness of Ghosts is proving to be a marvel.

I hope you all enjoyed this post!! I’m going to try and make sure book recommendation posts become a more regular thing around the Pond (I know I’ve been slacking)! I hope you all can participate in Autistic Pride Month and do a little bit to support our autistic friends.

And thank YOU for all the amazing and tireless work that you did during April. Without your post, I wouldn’t have known that Autistic Pride Month was going on, so thank you. I appreciate you and your voice. 💛

Great post, CW! I haven’t read any of these books, but I do have The Boy Who Steals Houses on my TBR! I may have to get The Kiss Quotient! How sexy is it, though? I don’t have an aversion to sex scenes, but I do get bored if there are quite a lot, lol.

Although it’s not by an autistic author, The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed has autistic rep, and I’ve heard it’s pretty good rep. It’s such a fantastic, feminist story, I love it. Really recommend it!

I’m going to be reading Into the Drowning Deep this month and I’m so excited!! Plus, I recently added all of c.g Drew’s books to my TBR. I sadly have only read one book with autism representation—The Gilded Wolves, which has good representation albeit stereotypical. I really hope I can read Cait’s own voices books soon! I also want to dip my fingers into the romance genre and try Talia Hibbert along with other romance authors, and I think A Girl Like Her will be killing two birds with one stone because not only is it a romance, but it also has autism rep!

Thank you for another great book rec list! I read a MG book last month, A Boy Called Bat, that had wonderful autism representation in the main character. It was not an #OwnVoices book, but it felt very authentic.

The Kiss Quotient is SO PRECIOUS, I love that book with all my heart. I can hardly wait for The Bride Test, especially given that it has a male autistic character, which, I feel, is even harder to find than female autistic characters. And A Girl Like Her (as well as each and every Talia Hibbert book I’ve read so far) gets all of my love, no joke. I’m excited for a lot of the others you mentioned, especially The Boy Who Steals Houses.

I read and really liked Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde, which has #OwnVoices autistic rep, inter-sectional diversity and it broaches important topics like toxic relationships. I also loved Can’t Escape Love by Alyssa Cole – I don’t think it’s OwnVoices, so I’m careful with recommending it, but Alyssa Cole puts a lot of thought into her characters, so I think it’s worth checking out. It has an autistic, Vietnamese-American hero and a Black, wheel-chair user heroine, who bond over their nerdiness. If that isn’t cute as heck, I don’t know what is. 🙂

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